14 minute read
THE FIERCE FIDDLE OF JENEE FLEENOR
PHOTO: KATIE KAUSS
BY WARREN DENNEY
Jenee Fleenor is a giver. It’s her obvious nature. She does not crave the spotlight, but rather constantly craves to play — and write — good music. That desire is at the heart of her success as a multi-instrumentalist, primarily with the fiddle, and the driving force that has led to her being named the Country Music Association’s Musician of the Year two years running.
Fleenor is the first woman to have earned that distinction, in 2019, and the first fiddle player so awarded in two decades.
Since arriving in Nashville in 2001, she has spent countless hours in the studio recording with an endless roster of Nashville artists, including Blake Shelton, Reba, Trisha Yearwood, Trace Adkins, Rascal Flatts, Ashley Monroe, Terri Clark, Don Williams, Jon Pardi, Cody Johnson — you get the idea. Fleenor has been a longtime member of Blake Shelton’s band, and has toured with many of those for whom she’s recorded, including Shelton, Clark, Martina McBride, and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler. She’s also performed regularly with the house band on NBC’s The Voice.
As Fleenor’s name has grown in peer recognition, so too has her own recognition of self. And, in 2020, a year so restrained by the effects of Covid-19, she may have discovered more about music than ever before — its healing power, and her own place within it. She and her husband both experienced their own bouts with the virus last year, forcing her to miss the CMA Awards show which so honored her.
She accepted the award, at times tearfully, via her own home video, in which she listed so many of her influences and peers who have allowed her career to flourish. It was a bittersweet moment for a musician who thrives on live performance.
“I know in my career where I am,” Fleenor said recently, from her home just outside Nashville. It was the holidays, but she was nonetheless feeling the disappointment of being unable to attend the event. Still, she leaned on the hope that lives on in this whole sordid mess.
“I’m just playing and listening to a lot of records anyway, but so many musicians I’ve talked to are saying it’s been the busiest year they’ve had. So much music is getting people through this.
“I know that touring is shut down right now, so some people only have the choice to record. But, my God, the songs that are flowing out of people, the writers who I’ve talked to — and I love to write myself. Things have become really focused.”
The life of a touring and recording musician demands a sacrifice in the service of others, leaving little time for self-reflection. You have to make a living, after all. But, in a year like no other, Fleenor found that time. She thought about her influences, and the road to her historic recognition.
“I think this year I really had a minute to think about it [winning the CMA award],” Fleenor said. “And I just named off probably 20 or 30 — and I could have named off 130 — musicians that have impacted my life so much. And a lot of them have passed on, but a lot of them I work with today.
“I always want to be a better musician, and I feel like all my heroes just encourage me to be just that.”
Her fiddle playing can range from the joyous to the fierce, to the supple and melodic. Witness the broad range of her collaborations. Her musical foundation includes a childhood filled with classical training, though she has flourished as a country, bluegrass, and yes — rock & roll — fiddler. Fiddle players are perhaps the most misunderstood musicians on the spectrum, from preconceived notions of instrument and identity. For instance, the devil’s been known to play the fiddle.
And, to play well, you must have an innate perspective or some understanding of folk, country, bluegrass, jazz, blues and pop, rock and classical. In other words, a unique relationship with the American musical psyche.
She grew up in northwest Arkansas, in Springdale, which placed her in heavy bluegrass country. The Ozarks, though, have seen it all, and she worked within a plan, one which would potentially land her at Juilliard, on her way to becoming classical violinist. Endless lessons and real commitment were required.
“Well, I grew up playing classical, if you know anything about me,” she said. “I played classical all the way up until I moved to Nashville, and my job was to practice an hour a day [outside of lessons]. I couldn’t go see my friends, I couldn’t do sleepovers, I couldn’t go to the mall, until I practiced an hour a day.
“My mom really wanted me to perfect my playing the violin. Her dream for me was to go to Juilliard and become a classical violinist. But it was my dad playing Bob Wills records in the background that I remember hearing, and Merle Haggard, and Ray Price. It was Bob Wills coming through, though.”
As she continued to grow, she became more drawn to country music, and her musical reach began to extend. She learned fiddle tunes as early as age five, took to dressing like Mark O’Connor, and was hired at age 11 as a member of the house band with the Little Ole Opry in West Fork, Arkansas.
“I cut my teeth there,” she said. “They hired me to be in the house band and they have people shuffling through there all the time. There I am. I’m a kid, just trying to hang on and play these songs that I didn’t know. And, there are so many great bluegrass players in northwest Arkansas — so many great players.
“So, I grew up going to all kinds of bluegrass festivals, and I was in a bluegrass band out of Missouri — First Impression. I definitely cut my teeth on bluegrass.”
She knew, even then, what she wanted. Her world in music became less abstract, more tangible.
“It was probably around the same time, when I was 11 or 12, that I stepped into the studio for the first time,” she said. “I don’t know — there was a spark. Every time I’d step in the studio, it’s this fire in me, I just love it so much. I specifically remember hearing my fiddle come through those headphones — it might have been washed in reverb — I don't know. It was a magical experience, and I will never forget that.
“I’d just tell myself, ‘I want to go wherever they do this.’”
She was on the country music trail. Or, maybe it was finding her. Her parents were supportive, acting as drivers and chaperones, and as she worked and discovered more elements of the bedrock country sound, particularly that of the pedal steel guitar, the more it opened up to her. That’s how she wound up playing with legendary steel player Ralph Mooney, and other musicians, when she was 15 or 16, in a hotel room filled with cigarette smoke and a bottle of whiskey making the rounds. She wasn’t old enough to partake of either, but she certainly took in the history and the music.
“I mean I had all these musical heroes,” Fleenor said. “And he was one. I was in that room — it was just kind of crazy. My parents were always there when we’d go to rehearsals. I remember rehearsing and jamming with Ralph Mooney in that room. It was so thick with cigarette smoke, and they’re passing around the whiskey bottle.
“They were playing all these cheating songs that are just so real — and that I didn’t really get — I was just so in love with the sound of country music. I’ll never forget it.”
And, as she reckoned with her fast-approaching future, Branson, Missouri might have easily beckoned. It’s less than 100 miles away from Springdale, but for Fleenor, one city alone stood apart from the others.
“I could have easily gone to Branson,” she said. “I love to play live. I really do. But I knew I wanted to go where they made the records I’d hear on the radio. And for me, it's always been about the challenge of being a better
musician, and playing with musicians that are better than me, to push me. I’ve just always enjoyed that. Everyone in Springdale knew I was moving to Nashville to be a fiddle player.”
At 18, she moved to Nashville to attend Belmont College, and began what would be a magical run. The kind of story that keeps musicians of every stripe coming to town, dream in hand. Within two weeks of her arrival, she walked into the bluegrass mecca Station Inn, to hear Larry Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time. Brandon Rickman, who would go on to become the lead singer in the Lonesome River Band, was a member of Cordle’s band at the time. He was also a Missourian who had jammed with Fleenor growing up, and after recognizing her, had the presence of mind to ask if she’d brought her fiddle.
“I’m sitting there in the chair, and he’s, like, ‘What are you doing here?’” she said. “I told him I was going to school at Belmont, and he said ‘Get your fiddle — you’re going to play for Larry in the back in just a minute.’ I grabbed my fiddle, and away I go. I didn’t know it, but Larry was looking for a fiddle player.
“So, I went back there and played, and I passed an audition I didn’t even know was taking place. Within about a month or two, I was playing on the Grand Ole Opry with Larry. It still blows my mind.”
So began the career that would break some new ground for women. Even today, it’s hard for Fleenor to entirely get her head around it. People are watching her, whether she feels it or not, and aspiring young women have a stake in her success.
“I do forget that sometimes,” she said. “Until people remind me. Like, yesterday I was doing sessions and there was only one other woman there, and she was the artist for a later session. Sometimes I’ll think about it, and catch it, like, ‘This is kind of crazy.’
“I’ve always said the proof is in the picking. And, I’m just fortunate I never saw it as an obstacle, and my parents never sat me down and said, ‘This might be hard for you to break into, because you’re a woman.’ That wasn't even a question. It was my dream, and I was going to go for it.”
It’s no small feat. Even today. And, the inspiration she provides can work both ways.
“Yeah, it does,” Fleenor said. “I’ve had so many young women reach out to me saying how I’ve influenced them, and how encouraging it is for them. I get emotional thinking about it. Some who’ve told me that they’ve had a hard time breaking into it. They might have been in a band scenario, and were given a hard time.
“A sweet, young girl reached out to me recently, and was a part of a religion that wouldn’t allow her to play a musical instrument. That broke my heart. She ended up leaving her religion, and she played the fiddle. I wanted to teach her, so we did some Zoom video lessons. It breaks my heart for someone not to be supported, but I love being able to do something. It brought her so much joy.”
And, there are those women whom Fleenor has counted as heroes, herself. The great Wanda Vick, a groundbreaking fiddle player in her own right, was one.
“I would watch Wanda Vick on those TNN shows [Music City Tonight and Prime Time Country],” she said. “I was so serious then. She’s such a fantastic player, and she’s always smiling when she plays. You know, when you’re playing classical, you’re usually not aiming up at the camera. I look at videos of myself from those days and I was so serious.
“Honestly, seeing Wanda playing on that show, was a turning point for me. I needed to learn how to bring myself to the people, and to smile when I’m playing. Draw people in. It’s all part of performing. Of course, Wanda is such an amazing musician. Her heart is right there, and she’s such an inspiration for me.”
(l-r) Beau Tackett, Blake Shelton, Jenee Fleenor
Count Tammy Rogers, fiddle player and founding member of the SteelDrivers, fiddle player and singer Jennifer Wrinkle, piano player Catherine Marx, steel guitarist Donna Hammitt, and bassist Alison Prestwood as other contemporaries whom Fleenor admires.
“I remember seeing Tammy Rogers and Jennifer Wrinkle with Reba,” she said. “That really stood out to me — these amazing musicians up there with Reba. Of course, I love Tammy to death. And, Donna Hammitt is the only woman steel player I would ever see. She really made an impression with me because she played with Bill Anderson.
“There’s not a ton of us, that’s for sure. I’ve connected a lot with Alison [Prestwood] in the studio. She’s a fantastic player.”
Fleenor plays some guitar and mandolin, when called upon, to augment the fiddle, and to stay versatile. She picked up the guitar while touring with Martina McBride, and has played mandolin with Terri Clark, among others. She views herself somewhat as a utility infielder, if needed. Life on the road can clarify those needs.
“I started working on the mandolin and guitar about the same time,” she said. “The Martina gig really made me a better guitar player.”
The pandemic, of course, has upended the touring aspect of Fleenor’s life, as with everyone. She’s been a member of Shelton’s band for seven years, a gig that overlapped originally with her touring in McBride’s band, and more recently she had balanced dates primarily between Shelton and Steven Tyler commitments. Her work on The Voice changed, in that she recorded tracks remotely this season.
“I haven’t been on the road this whole year [2020],” Fleenor said. “And, I kind of get antsy. I want to go see places, and I love to go to a city and just walk around. I love that part of the road. I miss it.”
The altered landscape has its advantages, though, allowing her to write more. It is an element that, over the years, has become a prominent part of her identity. She has songs recorded by Shelton, Reba, Dolly and The Grascals, Gretchen Wilson, Montgomery Gentry, Del McCoury, and others.
“I started songwriting at the tail end of the Terri Clark gig,” she said. “I had been inspired, I think, working with Larry Cordle, and hearing all those amazing songs. I remember hearing him play new songs, and I literally would not know what he was singing about. As a musician, I would always listen for the fiddle, or the steel guitar, or the mandolin break, or whatever. It wasn’t computing. I was like ‘What’s wrong with me?’
“But, once I really got it, something clicked. I was, like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s all about the song.’ Being a session musician, I always say the song will tell you what to play. You have to hear the lyrics, because it really will tell you what to play.”
Her first cut was “I Am Strong,” recorded by Dolly and The Grascals, and nominated for the IBMA’s Song of the Year.
“It was a song written for children,” she said. “It was specifically written for a girl with cancer. And all I had cared about was touching her life, and this song was so simple and just so delicate. I don't know — it was a God thing. I mean, it dropped from the sky. But of course, hearing Dolly Parton sing it back to you. Wow.”
Also, given the creative force which courses within her, it’s no surprise that Fleenor records her own music. She put out Listen to the Woman in 2011, and last year, began to release her own singles. “Fiddle & Steel,” cowritten with Phil O’Donnell and Buddy Owens, and “Good Ol’ Girls” were two that gained considerable traction on streaming platforms.
“I felt like there was something needed — it wasn’t a choice,” she said. “I needed to produce something.”
It is that sentiment which defines Fleenor. Music is who she is. She has no choice.
Photo: Katie Kauss
Jenee's road rig:
PetersonTuner
Visual Sound Volume Pedal
LR Baggs Align Reverb
Fishman Aura
Fishman V-300 pickup
